Loupi gets big air

Here's more viewing pleasure, courtesy of Donnie Cantaloupi on the factory Yamaha and an open face helmet showing his "holy ^*$((#" expression.  No doubt, this was big air back in the day.

I love this old MX stuff.  Seemed more real to me back then and then riders were only 12 feet off the ground...but who cared it was all bigger than life.

Tony Summey is #73; lots of action name the riders

Here's a MX shot from yesteryear; could be a southeast regional race.  I'm not sure of much here but I think #73 is Tony Summey...#229 (?) is hooked up and launching into the lead.

Help and old man out and fill in the details!

Andre Malherbe kept friendly dogs

Here's another shot of my visit to Andre Malherbe's home, in southern Belgium during December, I think 1980 or 1981.  He was world champ at the time and I can't remember the back story on the broken hand.

At that time, Malherbe's life was high style.  The mansion, the dogs...who knew the dreaded crash at Paris-Dakar was in the future. That is how it goes for us all:  We can plan well, but none of us know what's around the next bend in the road.

Thanks Andre, for letting me into your life and home for these wonderful pics. I'm glad that I can share them with Retro Motocross readers 30+ years later.

Howerton says "uh oh" here comes Hannah!

I've been traveling and got a bit behind on the Retro MX posts...so just to keep your chomps a bit wet for more, here's a snapshot from the heat of the action.  Kent Howerton and Bob Hannah were never friends and the state of that relationship produced epic early 1980's racing action.

Once again the open face helmet allows Howerton's facial expression to tell the story.  He's locked and loaded for an exit from the turn, but it seems he's aware it's Hurricane season.

I can't seem to imagine carrying a championship pace lap after lap, especially when one is getting nudged in the behind from some dude with a lightning bolt on their jersey. Those were good days and that was some hot racing.

Broc Glover got clocked at Mid-Ohio

Don't you just love the way we did high-tech, smoke and mirrors winner's circle presentations in the early 1980's?

It's a miracle we were allowed to validate this as real; for cryin' out loud where are the Monster girls?

This is how it happened:  We took the top MX superstar who won the event (in this case "Golden Boy" Broc Glover) then looked for a prop to authenticate the shoot.  Best option here was the Mid-Ohio "podium" you see in the back.

Don't know how you feel about all this, but to this day I think it's downright cool.  Broc was the Trans-USA International Champion and he got a clock to hang on his wall as a bonus. I liked the closeness of it all. No orchestrated photo op, just the Cycle News East guy getting a shot for next week's issue.

Pre-Internet era, things like this mattered. I was proud to be a conduit to all things motocross.

Bailey wadded it after leading Unadilla

Here's art in motion...David Bailey about to catch traction on the rough and demanding Unadilla track during a GP race.  As you well know my memory is fading, so David filled in the blanks:

"1982 first moto," reported Bailey when I showed him this image."Second moto, the uphill right after that one, I hit a haybale somebody moved and wadded and lost the overall, but at least I won the first moto. My first real big win.The next year I won the first moto AND the overall. Look how many people and how rough. THAT'S MX."

You said it bro, that was MX.  And you, my friend, were a big piece of the action.

Kent Howerton in flight on the RH Suzuki

I used to like infield shots at Daytona, shooting into the front straightaway stands.  This was the era where if you had a photo pass, you were all-in.  Could walk anywhere and take any angle you wanted...wasn't yet the age of restrictions, safe zones and photo areas.

This shot of Kent Howerton in flight on the factory RH Suzuki tells it all...shot with either a wide angle 28mm or a 50mm lens (can't remember which) allowed one to get close and crop in the action.

Thanks to photo king Charlie Morey for teaching me about motocross as a fine art; we were years away from long lenses and auto-focus and I believe it also made us more a part of the action.